For Want Of An IPad, Kidney Was Sold...

4/7/2012 3:31 AM ET

Waiting in line for hours - and sometimes days, to buy the latest gadgets as soon as they are released is a kind of ritual for avid Apple fans. As it turns out, some are willing to go beyond just waiting in line to pick up Apple products.

As crazy as all that was, in April 2011, a 17-year old Chinese student in eastern Anhui reportedly sold one of his kidneys to an online broker for 22,000 Yuan (roughly $3,500) to buy an iPad and an iPhone. The incident, which happened last year, is back in the spotlight as the Chinese teenager, only identified by his surname Wang, suffers from deteriorating health due to renal insufficiency.

On Friday, the people who recruited Wang to sell his kidney through an online chatroom, and the surgeon who conducted the operation were arrested by the Chinese government for intentional injury, according to the official Xinhua news agency.

The group of five persons involved in the illegal organ trade, including the surgeon, were allegedly paid a total of 220,000 yuan ($35,000) by the kidney recipient, out of which Wang was paid the 22,000 Yuan he needed for an iPhone and iPad.